‘The Kasai Company had a lucrative relationship with the African people. For minimal sums it bought their raw products and services and then it recovered even those small sums by selling the people articles for which they had acquired a taste while working for the white man. This is commonly known as “the civilizing mission,” and is particularly successful when associated with a culture that teaches shame for a people’s original tastes. Disseminating at the same time religious dictums about poverty and humility does not distract from this useful principle.’ — Andrée Blouin, My Country, Africa

‘Words fall short, yes, but sometimes their shadows can reach the unspeakable.’

— Yiyun Li, Where Reasons End.

‘As he drops deeper and deeper into the abyss, slowly his eyes begin to pick up the luminous quality of the darkness’

— Howard Thurman

‘An empty wine-bottle rolled across the floor and chinked against a syphon. It frightens me when inanimate things move about.’

— Mary Butts, ‘Lettres Imaginaires’

This person — it’s only one part of their face, their mouth, their eyes, some other specific part, which is pixellated. Censored by & in the real world.

‘The problem with the marginal is one, they have no understanding of nuance, and two, they have zero awareness that their dropout lifestyles are as much a part and product of the society we live in as any diligent careerists.’

— Iphgenia Baal, ‘Married to the Streets’

‘The interesting thing is that shame and indifference can manifest the same on the outside.’

— Tad DeLay, Against

‘…a few familiar forms stagnating in utility…’

— Martin Vaughn-James, The Cage

‘To me the book was worth something because it made me cry and feel afraid.’

— Megan Nolan.